Currently Inked: October 2017

The arrival of October brings to mind fall colours capped off with Halloween.  So, my pen and ink line up for the month rich reds, oranges and brown.  The one limitation was that the ink had to come stored in plastic bottles. This was because October 1 fell on Sunday but I headed up to our family cottage for the weekend on Friday.  I didn't have time to ink up before leaving for our trip hence, I tried to choose ink bottles that wouldn't crack.
 

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Currently Inked: Loadout for Short Cottage Escape

Last Wednesday, I posted some picturesI took on a recent hike. In fact, I went on a 1 night, 1 day get away trip to the cottage with the family. To be precise, we headed up on Friday night, September 30th. And headed back home on October 1st. I pondered a bit on what pens I should take seeing as I still had a couple of September inked pens to use up and my planned pens for October were only partially inked up. So, I did what any rational pen addict would do for a 1 day trip that starts at the last day of one month and ends on the first day of the next month: I took all pens in sight! 

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Currently Inked: October 2016

I’m posting my pen & ink line-up a later than originally planned.  I had hoped that a new pen that shipped out at the end of September would have arrived in time to join the October line-up.  I decided to go ahead and post my Currently Inked for October and do an addendum for the new pen.

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Chinese Cacography: 汽車 Car

It's been awhile since I last posted a Chinese Cacography. Here's a simple one. Akkerman Shocking Blue has amazing sheen - even on this Baron Fig paper which is a bit absorbent. I wish I could photograph the sheening quality better.

**Pen:** Omas Ogiva Alba EF Extra Flessibile  
**Ink:** Akkerman Shocking Blue

**Brush:** Kuretake No. 8 Brush Pen  
**Ink:** Kuretake Black

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Currently Inked: Loadout for Trip to Philadelphia

After coming home from my annual family cottage vacation, I barely got my luggage unpacked before repacking for a short trip to Philadelphia.  A few days was for working but there was a little time for sightseeing too. 

Since this would be shorter trip I decided to pack lightly in terms of writing instruments and stationery especially since I was intending NOT to check any baggage.

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Currently Inked: August 2016

I headed off for my annual family cottage vacation a few days before the end of July. It was a hectic last week before I left so there wasn't time for me to switch to August ink fillings, plus, many of the pens inked up in July were 'not quite' used up.  So, I did what any reasonable pen and ink addict with do in this circumstance...I packed up all my July pens, my planned August pens and all the ink I could find that was in plastic bottles or vials.   These are think pairings I ended up with.

 

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Pen Review: OMAS Ogiva Alba Orange

I was still a relative fountain pen newbie when the Goulet's brought OMAS to the Goulet Pen Company in the fall of 2014.  I loved hearing Brian share the story of OMAS' history and the fine people who hand-made the pens in Italy.  

I was also ready for something other than a cartridge converter pen.  So when I saw the video of the Ogiva Alba, I was smitten  and wanted to get it even though the pen was on the pricey side and I was worried about crazy import duties and taxes. 

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Currently Inked: April 2016

Tracking of my pen and ink combinations in a central place has helped my senile mind greatly.  I still feel the choice of using the Tomoe River Notebook bound by Coach House Press for Wonderpens for my Currently Inked log is a good one.  Great paper in a nice form factor.

It was a little hard to choose the new inks this month due to the number of holdovers from last month.  It was kind of unfortunate I was forced to top up a few pens with 3 days left in March to accommodate a one-day out of town trip.  But, it's all good as long as I have pens with ink to write with.  

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